Shoe cradle



NOV. 28, 1967 c BATCHELDER ET AL 3,354,484

SHOE CRADLE Filed July 5, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet l TO FOOT TREADLE INVENTORS CHARLES E BATCHELDER ER0ME A.RUB|CO W Nov. 28, 1967 c BATCHELDER ET AL 3,354,484

7 SHOE CRADLE Filed July 5, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 5 FIG. 6 k

mv TORS. CHARLES F. BA H ER EROME A. RUBIC @WWW'W" United States Patent ()fiice 3,354,484 Patented Nov. 28, 1967 3,354,484 SHOE CRADLE Charles F. Batchelder, Milton, and Jerome A. Rubico, Boston, Mass., assignors to Batchelder Rubico, Inc., Boston, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed July 5, 1966, Ser. No. 562,584 6 Claims. (Cl. 12123) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A cradle for supporting a lasted shoe in inverted position characterized by forwardly converging side vanes and rearwardly converging side vanes which merge and so provide a continuous supporting surface on each side of the last.

This invention comprises a new and improved cradle for securely holding an upper-carrying last in bottom-up position for any desired step of the shoemaking process. The cradle is herein shown as it is advantageously employed in presenting a shoe bottom for the application of an adhesive tape which at the same time reinforces the structure of the shoe bottom and serves instead of cement in retaining a midsole or other sole piece in position as spotted by the operator.

To this end the cradle of our invention is constructed and arranged to engage the side surfaces of the mid portion of the last adjacent to its widest dimension in order that the body and crown of the last may be suspended by contact in areas that leave the whole bottom free for inspection and access and at the same time by a wedging action prevents longitudinal displacement of the last.

An important advantage of our novel cradle construction is that it affords easy access and accurate positioning of the upper carrying last regardless of the location therein of the usual last thimble. The sloping side plates or vanes naturally shift the last by wedging action into its most stable position of equilibrium from which it resists displacement.

The cradle of this invention is designed to hold lasted shoes, either lefts or rights, and of all lengths, widths and styles normally made in any one shoe factory. It holds any such shoe, bottom up and with the toe of each shoe in approximately the same location, without risk of the shoe rocking or slipping, and without risk of damaging the upper.

Cradles are now used in most shoe factories to hold shoes for various operations on their bottoms. Most of these cradles are made of wood, with roughly parallel opposed edges which are generally padded and covered with leather. Such make-shift cradles do not hold the shoes securely, and they cannot readily be cleaned of the dirt, stains, cements, oils and grease which they accumulate.

The primary purpose of our cradle is to hold securely each shoe of a full range of sizes and styles, with the toe of each shoe in essentially the same location. Our cradle Was especially designed for use with a machine for expediting the taping of shoe bottoms, invented by Kenneth G. Strorn and described in a pending patent application filed May 3, 1966, Ser. No. 547,218.

A basic purpose is to provide both vertical and lateral support for the weight of a last and a shoe plus the working pressures thereon without damage to the upper.

A further purpose of our invention is to provide a cradle which will not accumulate dirt or any extraneous matter which would harm the uppers of shoes successively cradled in it. Our cradle may be easily cleaned and kept clean.

Another purpose is to provide a cradle in which a shoe may be quickly and easily inserted in its desired position, and as easily removed.

The cradle of our invention may be made of wood, cast or sheet metal, plate glass, plastic or other materials. We prefer to use a combination of cast aluminum and aluminum plate, for ease of manufacture, cleanliness, sturdiness, and the coefiicient of friction of the parts which contact the lasted uppers.

Two basic concepts make our cradle novel and successful. The first is the support of the lasted shoe by two pairs of opposed planar sloping vanes, one pair supporting the forepart of the shoe, the other the back part. The second concept is that the slope of the forepart vanes be angled upwardly and convergingly inwardly toward the toe end of the cradle, when considered in relation to the slope of the back part vanes. This converging angularity compensates for the downward and inward tapering of the forepart of a lasted shoe from its throat cone towards its toe, and for the narrowing of its back part towards the heel.

In addition to the supporting vanes we prefer to provide our cradle with a transverse toe stop, for two reasons. First, the toe stop provides a definite and tangible limit against which the toe of the shoe may be butted when the shoe is inserted in the cradle. Secondly, the toe stop positively prevents any forward creep, caused by work being done on the shoe bottom, of a shoe bedded in the cradle with its toe at the stop.

We prefer to make the four vanes of our cradle with planar surfaces, but vanes with a moderate degree of curvature would still be within the scope of our invention, as would be a cradle of our design but without a toe stop.

It will be understood that the cradle as described herein and as shown in the drawings is designed to hold shoes with their toes higher than their heels, for the greater ease of an operator working on the shoe bottom with its heel end towards him. We have found that the over-all slope herein depicted is about the limit of feasibility for most work on the shoe bottom, without having the shoe tend to slip backwardly down the slope. It is obvious that the whole cradle can be tilted and supported longitudinally to bring the shoe bottom to any desired slope or level.

To accommodate the varying requirements of different operators we prefer to make our cradle with an articulated base, comprising a relatively short extension, forward of the toe end of the cradle, hinged to the main part of the base which underlies the cradle itself. The hinged forepart of the base may thus be firmly attached to a work bench, and the heel end of cradle may be raised and fixed at a height to give any desired longitudinal slope to the shoe bedded therein.

Our cradle is designed to contact a lasted upper in five areas only. Each of these areas is at an outwardly bulging part of the shoe, and each contact is tangential. The forepart vanes contact the upper on either side, longitudinally between the toe of the shoe and its ball area, and laterally approximately midway between the centerline of the shoe and the line where the upper meets the welt or the upper surface of the midsole or outsole. For a shoe having a moccasin stitch around the top of the forepart of its vamp the forepart areas of contact will be on that seam. For shoes having thick bulky foreparts the contact areas are further back down the slope of the forepart vanes than with shoes having more pointed toes. The contact areas of the backpart vanes are close to the widest bulge of the heel on each side, and near the line of contact between the quarters of the upper and the welt, dutchman, midsole or heel.

Clearance is important to achieve security of the lasted shoe when bedded in the cradle. The shape and bulk of the forepart cones of lasts vary with styles, and with the height of and the fullness of the throat area of the shoe.

The widths of the tops of the backpar-t cones of differentlasts, and different sizes of lasts, vary quite noticeably. Our cradle is designed to avoid contact with the lasted shoe in thetwo areas described in this paragraph, and to limit the contact to the areasdescribed in the-preceding paragraph.-

These and other features: of the invention will be best understood and appreciatedfrom the'following descrip-'' tion of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration" and. shown. in the accompanying drawings'in which:

FIG. 1 is a view of the entire machine inside elevation,

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the cradle showing a last in place therein,

FIG. 3 is a view of thecradle in side elevation,

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the cradle without a last,

FIGS. 5 and 6- are cross sectional views on the lines 5-5 and 6-6 respectively;

In its application to the shoemakingindustry the invention is shown as'embodied in a machine mounted upon a bench 1t and comprising a base plate 11 adjustably mounted on the bench by boltstl2. The base'plate carries a transverse bar or block 13 upon whichis mounted a work support or holder in the shape of a cradle for pre senting a last 8 carrying a shoe upper 9 bottom-up thereon. The cradle has a pair of rearwardly converging side vanes or plates 14 shaped to engage the'rear sideportions of the upper carrying. last and a pair'of forwardly converging side plates 15 for engaging the forepart of the last. A transverse gauge plate 16' completes the cradle and positively determines the longitudinal position of the-last.

In the present instance it may be assumed that the shoe under construction is of the hand sewn moccasin type in which the upper 9 extends overand'across the bottom of the last in readinessto receive 'a length of double coated adhesive tape 40. This is to be adhered on one facetothe' shoe bottom by meansof itslower adhesive face and to present its upper adhesive faceexposed in tacky condition for the reception of a. mid-sole or other solepiecewhich the operator is now ready to spot accurately in place. Inaddition to serving as a. medium for attaching the sole piece the tape 40 will remain a permanent part of the shoe bottom as' a reinforcingtelement.

To the frame 17 of the machine is secured a bracket 18 from which projects a stationary guide rod 19channeled or grooved to receive a knife 21 mounted in'acarn'age 20 which is' guided by the-rod 19 for transverse reciprocation. The blade oftheknife 21 is clamp'edin' position in the carriage 20by' aholder 22 as: shown in FIG. 1.

The-carriage 20" may be advanced by a lever conveniently located for manipulation by the operator. A-tension' spring 26 maintains the knife carriage'20 always' in its extreme-right hand position where it'isentirely clear of the shoe bottom. Cooperating guide-rods 27 are mountedon the machine frame and-havefian'gesfor guiding the adhesive. tape 40'ii1to alignmentwith the longitudinal axis of the last. The machine frameincludes an upright side wall from'which projects a=journal-29 for a'supply reel 28'from which theadhesive tapeand itsmasking strip 41 aredrawn. In the: stopped. position'of the machine the freshly severedend of'the composite adhesivestrip- 40-41 remains'adjacent to the guide rod 27 in position above the toe end of the last convenientafor the operator'to' seize it and draw the adhesive-tapeforwardly to a posi tion above the heel seat end of the last as indicated indot and dash lines in FIG. 1 and=then to press thetape into adhesive engagement with the-shoebottornas shown in full lines in that figure.

Meanwhile after leaving the guide rods 27 the release liner or masking strip, 41 is separated from the adhesive tape 40' and led upwardly and rearwardly to a take-up reel 30 rotatably' mounted upon a, journal 31 set in the upper part of the' machine frame. The reel 30 has a ratchet'clutch member carrying a pinion 33, freely rotat able upon thejournal 31' and meshing-with 'an' elongated rack 34 guided for reciprocation in a verical path.

A spring on the journal 31 tends always to engage the clutch for counterclockwise driving action while permitting the ratchet teeth to click over each other in the reverse spring operated movement of the rack. The reel 30 is restrained against over-running by friction connection with the journal 31. The rack is. provided at its :lower end with a head'36-to which is attached a cable 37 arranged to be drawndownwardly by treadle connections not shown. A tension spring 35 is connected to the head 36 and tends always to move the rack 34 upwardly and hold it in initial position as determined by a shoulder 39 against which thehead ld makes limiting stop. It-will be understood that the masking strip 41' is removed from the composite tape before the latter reaches. the-knifecarrying guide rod- 19. The adhesive taped!) is-severed at this point while the masking strip 41 does not reach it.

If the masking strip should be drawn forwardly to the position shown in dot and dash lines in FIG. 1, depression of the treadle causes sufficient counterclockwise rotation of the wind-up reel 30 to dispose of the waste masking strip. The full length of the adhesive tape now liesexposed in the shoe bottom in readiness to receive and adhesively retain a mid-sole in accordance with conventional procedure.

The proper slopes of the vanes of our cradle are important to its effective functioning. We found that-a variation of five degrees from the slopes described below make the cradle somewhat less practical. The foregoing description of the illustrated embodiment of our invention is for a cradle to carry mens shoessizes 5'l4. For childrens or womens shoes the cradle should be smaller, but incorporating the same basic design. It -is to be understood that the measurements and slopes herein specified, and as shown in the drawings, are for the cradle as a unit as it stands when the base is flat. Any, upward raisingof its heel end or other tilting of the unit would change the position of the shoe but not the cradleitself.

We have made our cradle with a base plate 11 and toe stop 16both of 4 inch thick aluminump'late. The base is about 14" long and the toe stop, in the form of a transverse wall, about 5" high above the surface of the base. This wall serves the dual purpose of a toe stop and also a support of the forward ends of the forepart vanes. When the base is horizontal, the toe stop wall is vertical and normal to the centerline of the cradle. The forward end 11' of the base, for a length of about two inches, is hinged horizontally to the rest of the'base, and is provided with a slotor holes so that it may be firmly fastened-to a work bench. The hinge allows the back end of-the cradleto be raised to give the desired slopefor the cradled shoe. The back endof the base is also provided with-a slot or holes for its attachment to the bench.

For convenience of manufacture andfor ease in-plac ing a shoe in the. cradlewe havemade-theforepart and back part vanes on each sied' of the centerline of the cradle as single aluminum castings. They could, of course, be made as four separate pieces.

We have set the back part vanes 14-with their forward ends aboutsix inches back from the rear face of the toe stop. These back vanes are made about 3 /2 inches long. They are positioned'parallelto the longitudinal centerline of the cradle so that any horizontal line on the inner face of each back vane is parallel-to'the horizontal centerline of the base. We have found thata laterally upward and each side of the longitudinal center of the cradle. For ease in placing a shoe in the cradle and its removal therefrom, we make the top edges of the back vanes lower at their back ends than at their forward ends.

The forepart vanes slope upwardly and both forwardly and outwardly. Relative to the back part vanes, the forepart vanes also converge towards their toe ends. This dual slope may be best defined by defining the lines of intersection of the planes of their upper surfaces with longitudinal and transverse vertical planes. The toe stop wall provides such a transverse plane on which the line of intersection on each side should slope upwardly outward at an angle of approximately 31 degrees from the horizontal. If an imaginary longitudinal vertical plane parallel to the vertical center of the cradle and normal to its base be passed through the upper surface of each forepart vane, the lines of those intersections should slope upwardly forward at about 22 /2 degrees.

The inner lower corners of the toe ends of the forepart vanes are set on the back face of the toe stop at a height of about 3 1 inches above the base, and about As each side of the center of the cradle. We made these vanes with a transverse slope width, measured on the face of the toe stop wall of about 7% inches. The forepart vanes need not extend back from the toe stop more than about 3 /2 inches, measured horizontally and parallel to the centerline. At that distance the lower inward edges of the forepart vanes should be about 2 inches above the base and about inch either side of the longitudinal center of the cradle. Back of those points the forepart vanes may be continued to merge into the back part vanes thus providing a continuous supporting surface on each side of the last which cooperates to prevent by wedging action movement of the last in either direction. The lower inward edges of these backward continuations of the forepart vanes should be bulged outwardly a maximum of about inch in the longitudinal distance of about 2 /2 inches, to provide clearance for the throat areas of the bulkiest lasts.

Having thus disclosed our invention what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A cradle for supporting an upper-carrying last in bottom-up position, comprising a pair of forwardly converging side vanes which flare outwardly and transversely in position to underlie the forepart of the last, and a supplemental pair of rearwardly converging side vanes which flare outwardly and transversely at an acute angle for engagement with the rear end portion of the last and merging with the said forwardly converging side vanes thus providing a continuous supporting surface on each side of the last cooperating to prevent by wedging action movement of the last in either direction.

2. A cradle as described in claim 1, further characterized in that the rearwardly converging side vanes are transversely flared to engage the heel portion of the inverted last at its opposite sides with clearance between them for suspending the crown of the last.

3. A cradle as described in claim 1, further characterized in that the included angle between the forwardly converging side vanes is substantially greater than the included angle between the rearwardly converging side vanes.

4. A cradle as described in claim 1, further characterized in that both sets of side vanes are mounted on a common base member that is angularly adjustable about an axis adjacent to the toe end of a last contained in the cradle.

5. A cradle as described in claim 1, further characterized in that the side vanes provide two opposed pairs of relatively flat supporting areas contacting tangentially the upper of a lasted shoe when bedded therein, one of said pairs contacting the forepart of the upper on each of its sides between the toe and the ball areas of the shoe and the other of said pairs contacting the upper on each of its sides near the lower and widest part of its heel portion.

6. A cradle as described in claim 1, further characterized by having its back part vanes so positioned that, when the planes of each of these vanes be theoretically extended inwardly and downwardly until they intersect, the angle between the two planes when measured normal to their line of intersection will not be less than 40 degrees nor more than degrees.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,717,387 6/1929 Keall 12-123 2,272,183 2/1942 Butler 12123 2,485,596 10/ 1949 Hammann 12-123 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner. 

1. A CRADLE FOR SUPPORTING AN UPPER-CARRYING LAST IN BOTTOM-UP POSITION, COMPRISING A PAIR OF FORWARDLY CONVERGING SLIDE VANES WHICH FLARE OUTWARDLY AND TRANSVERSELY IN POSITION TO UNDERLINE THE FOREPART OF THE LAST, AND A SUPPLEMENTAL PAIR OF REARWARDLY CONVERGING SIDE VANES WHICH FLARE OUTWARDLY AND TRANSVERSELY AT AN ACUTE ANGLE FOR ENGAGEMENT WITH THE REAR END PORTION OF THE LAST AND MERGING WITH THE SAID FORWARDLY CONVERGING SIDE VANES THUS PROVIDING A CONTINUOUS SUPPORTING SURFACE ON EACH SIDE OF THE LAST COOPERATING TO PREVENT BY WEDGING ACTION MOVEMENT OF THE LAST IN EITHER DIRECTION. 